THE
TWO GILBERTS

The 1920s was the heyday of the silly comic song. before the First
World War comic songs often had a basis in the observation of
everyday life (which was often hard); but in comedy in general there
was a move away from any sort of reality after 1918: audiences had
just had four years of a very unpleasant reality and the reaction
against it was natural enough.

The king of the silly comic song was Leslie Sarony, who seems to
have written about half of them, with many of the remainder being
written by the excellent team of Weston and Lee (who wrote a number
of Gracie Fields's early songs). However, the song I have chosen here
is perhaps the silliest of the whole period. It is sung by The Two
Gilberts, who were Fred Douglas and (usually) Leslie Rome*.

So here is the burning question of the 1920s: Do Shrimps Make Good
Mothers?